Hussain, from Bracknell, Berkshire, drove from his student flat in Coventry on January 4 and punched a man in the face in Nottingham and ran off.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: “It is the prosecution case that on this occasion, fortified by the apparent ease at which a stranger could be attacked, this time he travelled to Manchester armed with a knife and intending to kill someone.”

Mr Wright said: “Kieran crossed the road and then entirely without warning he approached him and he stabbed him to the front and back of his chest four times before running off.” He said the defendant initially denied involvement in either of the incidents when he was arrested days later. But he “changed his tune” when the evidence against him began to unravel.